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For the past month and a half, I’ve been reading this site, reading the book and planning my new garden. This week, I set out the bed and so far I’ve planted cabbage, broccoli, collards and cauliflower from seed.

I’m very excited but also nervous. What scares me is not knowing which bugs/insects are the good one and bad ones. I don’t want to use chemicals so I still have to do more research to try to keep the garden as organic as possible.

Good bugs & creepy crawlies........earthworms, black ground beetles, crickets, bees, parasitic wasps are a few I can name right away at least for my zone.

Baddies are slugs, snails, grasshoppers, aphids, ants, potato beetles, squash vine bugs, cabbage moths, cutworms, root maggots....the list goes on. There seem to be more baddies than goodies. Like you, I try to use as little chemicals as possible and use soapy water as my first line of defence. Coffee grounds, or a spray with coffee in it seems to work too for a lot of things.

There are so many knowledgeable people here that will help you out. No reason at all to be nervous. Excited though. This is the start of something fantastic for you. Best of luck in your new endeavor. There is nothing quite like growing your own vegetables.

You'll find that gardening is a life long learning adventure. Reading can help get you started, but you'll learn the most by getting your hands dirty and learning as you go. It looks like you've got your box well critter-proofed!

You can read about the gardening experiences of a fellow Atlantan here. Weedless in Atlanta has been fighting bugs this summer, and you should be able to get an idea of what to expect.